


May or May Not Be

by NamelessMoogle



Series: 100 ways to say I LOVE YOU [8]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-05 20:27:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15871149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamelessMoogle/pseuds/NamelessMoogle
Summary: It surprised no one that Noctis was the most popular student in the school: many kids wanted a taste of the Caelum wealth, and parents urged their children to get close to the Young Master, hoping to use the association to their own advantage. However, Noctis made friends with no one, though he was polite to everyone who approached him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a few prompts I have been sitting on forever: 
> 
> "Don't try to fix me. I'm not broken."  
> "If you don't want to talk about it then say so. Don't lie and pretend to be fine when you clearly aren't"  
> (from [treya-barton](https://treya-barton.tumblr.com))
> 
> Also,  
> 23\. "I'll wait."

A black limousine stopped in front of a high school in central Insomnia. “Oh, the Young Master is here!” A girl in a school uniform squealed upon spotting the vehicle. Some other students gathered around and reacted similarly, although the entire student body had seen the limousine on every school day since _the Young Master_ entered the school.

Noctis Caelum, also known as the Young Master, was the only child of the world-famous entrepreneur Regis Caelum. The Caelum conglomerate was so big and powerful that the Lucians said Regis would be king if Lucis were a kingdom. As it wasn't, the general public dubbed the older Caelum _Master_. Thus, the son became the Young Master.

It surprised no one that Noctis was the most popular student in the school: many kids wanted a taste of the Caelum wealth, and parents urged their children to get close to the Young Master, hoping to use the association to their own advantage. However, Noctis made friends with no one, though he was polite to everyone who approached him. The children of Regis’s business associates were closer to Noctis than his schoolmates were, but only because they were likely to work closely with him someday.

“I’ll see you at the party!” A girl wearing a skirt far shorter than the school regulations indicated shouted when Noctis walked out of the limo and towards the campus. Other students in the vicinity joined in and said a bunch of things Noctis didn’t care to hear. He put on a fake smile and kept walking.

From the look of it, he was the only one in the school who was not looking forward to the aforementioned party. To everyone else, Noctis Caelum’s birthday party was the hottest and the fanciest event of the year; on the other hand, to Noctis himself, it was an annoying experience consisting of countless faces making nose he could live without. Nevertheless, he, the birthday boy, had no choice but to sit through the party, as his father insisted.

Noctis would rather lock himself up in his bedroom and play King’s Knight all night long.

*****

“Nice party, Noct,” Gladiolus Amicitia muttered. “More so than last year’s.”

“Can it, Gladio.” Noctis grimaced as he looked up to glare at the son of his father’s business partner. “You’re almost as sick of these damn parties as I am.”

“Sure, but I’m not the one everybody’s staring at like a monkey in the zoo.” Gladiolus chuckled and stepped away to avoid unwanted attention intended for Noctis.

_Thank the Six for the VVIP area._ Only Noctis and few others, like Gladiolus, had access to it. “For security purpose” was what the guards told the giddy teenagers attempting to barge in. Klutzy as they might be, none of them dared to power through, knowing that it would be unwise to offend the Caelums. While Noctis still had to stand where everyone could see him every so often, he didn’t need to hang out with complete strangers screaming into his ears. 

Then, Noctis saw a mop of blond hair he could recognize anywhere. _I must be hallucinating_ , Noctis thought. _There’s no way he’d be here._ The blonde was busy mingling with the crowd, occasionally taking selfies and snapshots with a camera. Soon, Noctis forgot about the annoying party, letting his gaze follow the young man.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not happy with how this segment turned out, but I just wanted to get it out of the way despite the lack of comments. For some reason, this story has gotten bigger than what I wanted at the beginning. :-/

By the time Noctis managed to poke his head out of the VVIP area, the blonde was nowhere within his sight. He considered pursuing the young man at once, but soon realized that his presence among the partygoers would be a deterrent to the pursuit. Noctis twiddled his thumbs while scanning the crowd one more time just in case, but was unable to spot the wild blond hair again.

The only thing Noctis could do at the moment was contact _that person_ he had not spoken to. Typing “I think I saw you just now” on the phone, Noctis sent the message to a certain individual on his contact list. He then waited for a reply even though he didn’t know if there would be any.

There was.

**You didn’t.**

Noctis buried his face in his hands and screamed into them.

*****

Noctis Caelum first met Prompto Argentum in elementary school, when his schoolmates were a little too young and nervous to put their paws on him. Back then, the kids avoided him, uncomfortable at the sight of the bulletproof limousine and stone-faced bodyguards around the young Caelum. Noctis’s life went on like that until a young blond boy in glasses accidentally bumped into him during a P. E. class.

Soon, the Caelum Manor became a playground for the two boys. A latchkey kid, Prompto preferred spending the afternoons at the manor instead of the empty house he would otherwise have to go back to. On the other hand, Noctis was grateful for a friend that had nothing to do with his father’s business.

At that time, they believed they would always and forever remain best friends, and they did stay close well into puberty.

Noctis on the way out of school when he ran into Ignis Scientia, the only nephew of his father’s secretary and Noctis’s unofficial tutor when the younger boy needed last-minute cramming. “Ignis.”

“Do you have a minute, Noctis?”

_Why now?_ “No, I don’t, Specs.”

“You should,” Ignis retaliated, “as you have no engagement today that I know of.”

“Who are you? My secretary?”

“More like your nanny at the moment.”

“What the hell do you want, anyway?”

“It’s not that I want something from you, but that I need to remind you that-”

“Fuck you, Ignis.”

“As the sole heir to the-”

“I don’t want anything to do with it, and you know it.”

“Whether you like it or not, you only know of a life of wealth and privilege, Noctis Caelum.”

“Because people like you keep me sheltered all the fucking time!” Noctis shouted.

“All for a reason,” Ignis shook his head as he tried to set noctis straight once and for all.

“Don’t try to fix me, Scientia. I’m not broken.”

“Not yet,” Ignis admitted. “But if you continue yearning for whatever you think is ‘normal,’ all the while you depend on the young Argentum-”

On hearing Prompto’s name, Noctis punched Ignis in the face. “No one fucking tells me what I should -- and should not -- do, and that’s that.”

Noctis thought he had emerged victorious, until he realized he couldn’t find Prompto anywhere, from that day on.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I initially had the idea for this story in early June, and it took me almost four months to finish this measly thing.

Noctis couldn’t delete Prompto’s numbers off his phone. He never bothered coming up with a reason for the inaction, but no one cared whether or not he had a means of contacting Prompto as long as they were not on speaking terms.

A few more years passed, and the same number of birthday parties took place. There had been no trace of Prompto at those parties, no matter how thoroughly Noctis scanned the venues for the one he couldn’t stop thinking of.

Now that Noctis finally took a glimpse of Prompto, he wasn’t about to stop searching, despite the cold and brief text from the blonde. Ignoring all the “Young Master” shenanigans, Noctis looked for a back door he was sure there was.

*****

While walking on the street looking for Prompto, Noctis heard something coming out of an alley. Letting curiosity get the better of him, he stepped closer to the source.

“So…”

_I know that voice._ Noctis froze on the spot.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, then say so.”

_Who’s he talking to?_

“Don’t lie and pretend to be fine when you clearly aren’t.”

_He sounds so… sad._

“You’ll never know what I’ve just said, Noct, but…”

_...Did he just say **my name**?_

“I’ll wait.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Scream at me about my little fics](https://twitter.com/namelessmoogle1).


End file.
